Scientists were startled to discover that human brains, for some unknown reason, are shrinking!

Scientists were startled to discover that human brains, for some unknown reason, are shrinking!

Human brains shrink as people grow old, unlike even our closest animal relative, says a new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that highlights what researchers call the unique character of human aging.

BUT, the most alarming finding of the study is that human brains are 17% smaller than they were even back in 1930.

“We already knew that human brains shrink as they age, but when we compared brains from today with brains from the 1930s, 1960s and 1990s, we noticed an alarming trend – human brains are shrinking.”

Does this mean that humans are becoming less intelligent and more like their counterparts in the animal kingdom – chimpanzeses?

“Our longer lifespan is probably one of the reasons that brains are shrinking, because the brains have to last longer,” a research team leader suggests in their Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences paper.

People in the fields of politics, entertainment, blogging and the legal professions are experiencing even more shrinkage.

The shrinkage is affecting the brain’s ability to process thoughts and memories and signals to the rest of the body seems to diminish.

“To put it bluntly, humans are becoming stupder,” said Dr. John Holmes of the National Academy of Science.

Researchers know that certain areas of the brain seem to fare worse; the cerebral cortex, which is involved in higher order thinking, experiences more shrinkage than the cerebellum, which is in charge of motor control.

Scientists do not fully understand why our brains are continuing to lose grey matter as the decades pass.